
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 5, 1993                   TAG: 9312050113
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SMALLER PLANES, MORE FATAL CRASHES

Commuter aircraft are far safer and more popular than they used to be, but they are five times more likely than larger airliners to have a fatal accident, according to government statistics.

The small planes are the fastest-growing part of the nation's airline industry.

As major carriers abandon small airports and short-haul routes to save money, regional airlines are stepping in with turboprops, one of which crashed last week in Minnesota, killing 18 people.

Commuter planes are one-third less likely to be involved in an accident as they were in the 1970s when the industry was deregulated.

There were seven fatal crashes involving the small planes last year, a rate of 0.243 per 100,000 departures, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The rate for larger airliners - those that carry more than 30 passengers - was 0.050.

Twenty-one people died in commuter accidents last year, compared to 33 in larger planes, which fly far more miles and carry far more passengers.

The safety of commuter carriers is still the subject of a long-running debate among federal regulators and congressional investigators.

Aircraft that fly 30 or fewer passengers, such as the British-made Jetstream 31 that crashed in Minnesota, are exempt from many federal regulations.

Commuter pilots undergo less training than their counterparts flying jets, they complain of having to fly on less sleep, and on average they are younger and far less experienced. Pilots for major airlines earn three times what commuter pilots earn, according to the Air Line Pilots Association.

Some of the planes the commuter pilots are flying, including the Jetstream 31, are as sophisticated as older-model jets such as the DC-9, but they still have limitations, experts say. Small planes, for example, cannot fly over bad weather as jets do; they have to fly through or around it.

A House committee reported last year that "problems in pilot proficiency, judgment or training . . . are a cause or contributing factor in approximately two-thirds of all commuter accidents."

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB